WASHINGTON – Private contractors play an enormous role in our country’s national security apparatus, according to the Washington Post today. According to today’s story, the second in a series by the Post entitled Top Secret America, contractors have been used for a wide range of intelligence jobs, including surveillance and interrogation of detainees, where civil liberties are greatly implicated.

The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office:

“The massive use of private contractors in our intelligence community further exacerbates the lack of control, oversight and accountability that already plagues our intelligence apparatus. The excessive use of contractors puts more distance between the government and those carrying out intelligence work and infuses the profit motive into a calculation that should be focused on effectiveness and adhering to the rule of law.”